Address by HE Robyn Mudie
Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
Anzac day, Dawn service, 25 April 2013
Thank you for your attendance at this Anzac Day dawn service. I acknowledge and welcome the presence of senior Sri Lankan officials, diplomatic colleagues, members of the Australian, New Zealand and other communities.
On 25 April 1915, 98 years ago, in the darkness, before dawn, thousands of young Australian and New Zealand troops landed at a place now known as ANZAC Cove on the shores of Gallipoli, a land then unknown to most Australians, but a place of great significance today.
The thousands of young soldiers who went ashore met fierce resistance and many hundreds of young lives were lost within a few short hours. More than 2000 Australians were killed or wounded on 25 April alone.
Over the subsequent 8 month campaign, there was very heavy loss of life on both sides, but also many acts of bravery and valour. Australian and New Zealand men and women served in Gallipoli including members of the nursing contingent. At the end of 1915, the Allied forces were evacuated after the loss of over 10 000 Australian and New Zealand lives.
Each year we gather on 25 April to pay tribute to the Anzacs and to all the men and women who have served our nations – in wars, conflicts, peacekeeping and community rebuilding operations.
We meet here today, not to glorify war or praise victors, but to remember all those who have served our countries during times of conflict and crisis, and to reflect upon their selfless sacrifice.
This service honours those who fell, but also those who went to war and then returned to pick up their lives, remembering as they did, the service they had given, the horrors they had lived through and the loss of mates with whom they served.
It honours those in combat; those imprisoned; those who nursed the injured and those transported and administered them. It honours those who stayed behind to sustain our nations and the families who waited at home hoping and praying for the safety of their sons and daughters.
Today, in Colombo, we pay tribute to the Anzacs. Three Anzac veterans are buried here at Borella. Jack de Boer was rendered paraplegic from wounds at Gallipoli. Richard Crouchley served at Gallipoli before being moved to the Western Front, fighting at Passchendale. Dennis Ryan served in Gallipoli and then in France where he was seriously wounded. All three men died on their way home to Australia and were buried here.
We also honour those Australians and New Zealanders who gave their lives in the service of their countries in the Second World War and who are buried here at Borella and also not far away, at the Liveramentu cemetery. Others are at rest in Commonwealth cemeteries elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
These peaceful surroundings are the resting place for those who did not come home from the war. They died thousands of miles away from their homes and loved ones.
For many of the families of these lost men and women, this place is somewhere they have never visited and which they can only imagine.
Over the years, some family members have travelled many thousands of miles simply to see the resting place of their loved ones. Others never had the opportunity to see this physical memorial. Our presence here this morning allows us to represent those families. It allows us to pay a very personal tribute to those who lie here.
One such family from Murat Bay in South Australia lost their son, Ivan Cecil Hunt in April 1916. Ivan embarked from Adelaide on 11th April 1916 to serve in the Great War. He fell ill at sea and was brought to the military hospital in Colombo where he died on 4 May. His heartbroken mother, Elizabeth, wrote several letters to the authorities requesting a photograph of his grave as, she said, “her boy felt so far away”.
Before the war was over she would lose two other sons, both buried in France. In one of her letters she also requested the following be engraved on Ivan’s gravestone: "Oh for a glimpse of the grave where you're laid, only to lay a flower at your head. Mother". Ivan’s headstone, which is not far from the area we are standing today, eventually said “Greater love hath no man than this”. Today we remember his bereft parents and brothers, and the countless others like them who suffered the loss of loved ones due to war, many thousands of miles from home.
We also honour and pay tribute to the many other Australians and New Zealanders who lie here in this cemetery, many of whose graves are marked with candles this morning.
Among these are a number of airmen who died in the Battle of Ceylon which began on 5 April 1942. Just behind me are the graves of Garth Caswell and Allan Browne, both jackeroos from Queensland, and Robert Neill, a car salesman from Hay in New South Wales. These three brave young men – who were just starting out in life and had left Australia to serve their country - had only recently completed their pilot training when they took to the air in their Hurricane fighters in order to defend the naval base at Colombo. All were lost in the battle.
New Zealanders Ian Stewart Leahy aged 25 and Basil le Breton Smith aged 26, who both served in the New Zealand Air Force also rest here. They died in an air accident not far from here, along with an Australian, Stanley Charles Mutimer, aged 21.
These are only some of the many stories of Australians and New Zealanders who lie here and in other Commonwealth cemeteries in Sri Lanka.
We remember those men. We remember all others who are resting here and we pay tribute to all Australians, New Zealanders and other allied and Commonwealth forces who are buried in Sri Lankan soil.
As the sun rises this morning on Anzac Day, we join our compatriots around the world who will pause and honour the brave individuals who have served and continue to serve, our nations during times of war and peace.
We hope that our gathering here this morning will ensure that the lives of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice are never forgotten.
Lest we forget.